The Thick of It - "Series Two"

[evilC]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Can I just say that I turned over briefly whilst Owen Coyle was being interviewed on Match Of The Day and - although I haven't been watching this series (this time round) and although Malcolm is a totally loathsome character - the insult of "...Lucille Ballsack..." did make me chuckle.

[Tony C]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

"Yes, this is just like The Shawshank Redemption - only you're wading through a lot more shit and there's no redemption."

[ian.64]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Malcolm is a totally loathsome character

I think it's a sign of how good Capaldi does this in that while Tucker is industrial-strength abrasive, he just holds the tiniest bit back to make you pity him. The 'Egypt' speech he delivers while rebuking Terri tip-toed neatly around the borders of pathos. Tucker is loathsome, but, currently, the wilder he gets the smaller he becomes. It's like the bit in the special where Glenn goes off the deep end and starts screaming 'I am a man!', Tucker realises he may have gone to far and starts bigging him up again to rectify a situation and keep everything on track. Capaldi and the scriptwriters have done wonders with this character. It's a magnificent creation.

And, again, a cracking episode.

[evilC]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

I agree about all of that, but just wanted to add that the part in the special where he (and his machinations) started to come unravelled was particularly good and, of course, one of the most satisfying come-uppances in all of comedy.

It's also a testament to the writers that they've been able to make you almost completely forget Hugh Abbott (although I never will, of course).

[Ray de Galles]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

I think Ben Swain's return has to be noted, a brilliant character.

[Lucia Lanigan]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Brilliant last episode, that. I love the cockiness in throwing away lines such as "you're about as on the ball as a dead seal".

[ian.64]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

I'm wondering if I'm in a party of one when I say that I have reservations about David Haig, who played the smiley-happy spin-doctor big shot in last night's otherwise cracking episode. Capable actor though he is, he's always seemed to me a mannered, forced performer who telegraphs the comedic aspects of his roles whenever I see him. He's very 'sitcom' in a series where nearly all the participants nail their roles with such naturalistic elan that very little seems forced or overworked. He's almost caricature in the company of that cast, putting in such a performance of poisonous cheerfulness I thought his head would threaten to separate from his shoulders. Or, as I suggested, is it just me?

That said, it continues to be the dog's bollocks and has me licking my lips in anticipation of the final episode. Ianucci, bless your shiny, clever little head.

[Guest]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Funny that a character like that should be the undoing of Tucker. Or will he???

A Thick Of It cliffhanger, oh my giddy aunt!

[wingco]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

I haven't seen him in anything else, ian, so I didn't have that baggage but I thought he was great - just, only just, the right side of grotesque and so awful that you really rooted for Tucker when he went up against him.

[Lucy Waterman]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

I've seen a fair bit of comment on boards suggesting that Haig was unrealistic or bizarre. That's weird to me, because nearly everywhere I've worked has had a senior member of staff like him.

[E10 Rifle]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

That was the most disconcertingly brilliant thing about last night's episode - that you were on Malcolm's side pretty much throughout (including the early exchanges about Andy Murray)

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

He is the worst kind of person - completely incapable of losing his temper, no matter what. The kind of person that stubs his toe and doesn't shout "fuck!" immediately raises suspicion with me.

It's one step away from Mormonism...

[Ray de Galles]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

That was just absolutely fucking epic. Just finished watching it and I might actually have to go right back and watch it again straight away.

It reminded me of how the penultimate episode of every season of 'The Sopranos' was always a display of chaotic blood-letting. They always followed them with weirdly calm finales that tied up some of the loose ends but I can't tell where this is going to go (apart from thinking about SR's spoiler).

[Ray de Galles]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

wingco wrote:

I haven't seen him in anything else, ian...

I can never disassociate him with 'Four Weddings...'.

I will be very dissapointed if I haven't worked the line "He looks like a Lego policeman" in to conversation in the next week.

[ian.64]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Well, I've seen Haig quite a few times on other series, The Thin Blue Line and so forth, and I got to see him on stage in Birmingham in a Ben Elton play (I was invited by a friend who was reviewing it for a local free newspaper) where his slightly forced comedic histrionics were best suited to a theatre audience.

But, who am I to argue if he does the business for others? A bit churlish, I suppose. A smacking top-quality episode nontheless.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

He was Peter Mandleson, wasn't he?

[Nico Rijnders]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

I didn't get that from the character, myself. If anything I thought of David Hill, who replaced Campbell, after all:

Hill:


D.I Grimm off The Thin Blue Line:

[Spearmint Rhino]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Harry Truscott wrote:

That was just absolutely fucking epic. Just finished watching it and I might actually have to go right back and watch it again straight away.

Yes, this, exactly. Although I've taken the bombshell at the end as badly as I took, you know, the other bombshell near the end of The Wire.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Didn't know Hill looked like that, Nico.

Never heard him speak but looks like a good call.

[Guest]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Was it just me that found the last episode incredibly...ghoulish and unsettling? I thought it was a stunning bit of television, but the bits with Malcolm's sacking- the report flshing behind him on the television, the 'right, five minutes' line, Sam crying while being flanked by security, Nicola's reaction- was so effective at capturing that 'oh, fuck' feeling that it just felt brutal and unrelenting and actually quite difficult to watch. It started from the look Malcolm gave Haig when he realisied he had Julies' ear and never let go after that.

The Sopranos comparisons are apt. It felt like a whacking in its cold effectiveness. It had that same nightmareish and grey feel of the final season of The Sopranos too.

Weird to think it's still comedy, and the laughs were definitely lighter this week, but comedy it still is. I thought it was great that amid everything they squeezed Glenn's line about not wanting to hug Terri in.

Brilliant.

[ian.64]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

That's a worthwhile point to make because I notice how sometimes some moments in TTOI tread neatly into drama itself and the laughs subside just a tad to leave it being more than just a sitcom - 'sitcom's too genial a term for something so pointedly electric and stark in terms of how it's constructed and acted.

[garcia]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

the most recent episode was absolutely brilliant. i had thought some previous episodes were leaning too heavily on the dialogue as opposed to the drama, but this was masterful. it really swept you along and the comparisons to a gangland assassination are well made.

[Spearmint Rhino]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Armando Iannucci was on BBC Breakfast yesterday morning. He said he'd like to write another series of The Thick Of It if the BBC would let him. Bill Turnbull said "Just make sure you keep Peter Capaldi. You can't have The Thick Of It without Peter Capaldi." Iannucci shifted uncomfortably in his seat and said "Er, yes... or can you?!"

[Levin]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Have we ever seen any politicians in this show any balls? Or have they all been shifty and wet and useless? Surely there must have been someone with some ideals, even if only when they first appear.

[Spearmint Rhino]

The Thick of It - "Series Two"

Nicola Murray's got balls to some extent.